Kiefer, Shiga hold off winless Ibaraki for 2nd straight win

Kiefer Ravena and the Shiga Lakestars captured their second straight win this weekend after taking down the Ibaraki Robots, 85-77, in the Japan B. League on Sunday, October 10 at the Ukaruchan Arena.

After finishing with 13 points on Saturday, Ravena continued his stellar all-around play for Shiga as he tallied 11 points on 4-of-8 shooting, 7 assists, 2 rebounds, and 2 steals in 22 minutes of action as they improved to 3-1 in the standings.

With the Lakestars leading by only a point, 76-75, with 1:59 remaining in the final frame, Ravena quickly set up the open Tomomasa Ozawa for a crucial three-pointer to put their lead back to a two-possession affair, 79-75.

Ozawa, who was red-hot from downtown the whole game, then added two more points in transition to extend their advantage to 6, 81-75, with 1:29 left to play.

A layup by Ibaraki’s Asahi Tajima trimmed the deficit back to 4, 77-81, but Shiga import Novar Gadson erased any hopes of a Robots comeback as he iced the game for the Lakestars with two free throws with 52 seconds remaining in the game. 

Ozawa led the way for the Lakestars with 17 points on a very efficient 5-of-6 shooting clip from deep, while Gadson and Sean O’mara added 16 and 15 points, respectively.

Eric Jacobsen finished with 20 points and 12 rebounds, while Atsunobu Hirao chipped in 17 markers and 6 assists for the winless Robots, who are badly missing the services of their Filipino import Javi Gomez de Liaño due to quarantine protocols.

Ravena and the rest of the Lakestars will look to make it three in a row when they face the Kyoto Hannaryz on Saturday, October 16 at 5:05 pm.

The Scores

Shiga 85 – Ozawa 17, Gadson 16, O’mara 15, Ravena 11, Kashiwagura 8, Soko 6, Hayashi 6, Nomoto 4, Shibuta 2, Immagawa 0.

Ibaraki 77 – Jacobsen 20, Hirao 17, Trasolini 12, Tajima 9, Tsurumaki 7, Tapscott 7, Fukuzawa 3, Takahashi 2, Taniguchi 0, Nakamura 0, You 0.

Quarters: 19-15, 38-33, 57-51, 85-77.

– Rappler.com